Multiplexing group communications among computers ranges from very simple to very complex communications systems. At a simple level, group communications among computers involves electronic mail sent in a one way transmission to all those in a group or subgroup using, say, a local area network. Arbitrating which computers receive electronic mail is a rather well understood undertaking.
On a more complex level, corporations may link remote offices to have a conference by computer. A central computer can control the multiplexing of what appears as an electronic equivalent to a discussion involving many individuals.
Even more complex is linking of computers to communicate in what has become known as a “chat room.” Chat room communications can be mere text, such as that offered locally on a file server, or can involve graphics and certain multimedia capability, as exemplified by such Internet service providers as America On Line. Multiplexing in multimedia is more complex for this electronic environment.
On the Internet, “chat room” communications analogous to America On Line have not been developed, at least in part because Internet was structured for one-way communications analogous to electronic mail, rather than for real time group chat room communications. Further, unlike the an Internet service provider, which has control over both the hardware platform and the computer program running on the platform to create the “chat room”, there is no particular control over the platform that would be encountered on the Internet. Therefore, development of multiplexing technology for such an environment has been minimal.
Even with an emergence of the World Wide Web, which does have certain graphical multimedia capability, sophisticated chat room communication multiplexing has been the domain of the Internet service providers. Users therefore have a choice between the limited audience of a particular Internet Service provider or the limited chat capability of the Internet.